Posted By Dan Greenfield on Aug 12, 2024 | 6 comments

Her debut was in August 1964…

Brian Bolland’s magnificent cover for the 2004 trade paperback collection Zatanna’s Search

By PETER BOSCH

We’ve got magic to do
Just for you.
We’ve got miracle plays to play
We’ve got parts to perform
Hearts to warm
Kings and things to take by storm
As we go along our way.

–– Stephen Schwartz’s lyrics to “Magic to Do,” the opening number of the musical Pippin

Zatanna’s three-year search for Zatara in the 1960s was a story of magic, but it was also a story of love and what a daughter would do to be with her father again. During that multi-year hunt, she never gave up hope in finding him. And it all began August 20, 1964, 60 years ago this month, when Hawkman #4 — featuring Zatanna’s first appearance — hit the comics racks.

Cover and splash page for Hawkman #4 (Oct.-Nov. 1964), with art by Murphy Anderson

The series of stories, all written by Gardner Fox (who also wrote tales of Zatara in the Golden Age of comics), were fascinating journeys of imagination. What is surprising, though, is how long it took to find Zatara when the quest was limited to just five different stories. (There was a sixth but it was never really about Zatanna, just retroactively concocted to appear that way. More about that later.)

As mentioned, the tale began in the fourth issue of Hawkman (with Murphy Anderson creating the look of the lady magician). In it, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, in their secret identities of Carter and Shiera Hall running the Midway City Museum, discovered two ancient artifacts in the exhibits that were not there the day before. Carter’s knowledge of antiquities determined they were of Chinese and Irish origin. Their curiosity aroused, they flew individually to the countries to solve the mystery. In both cases, each encountered criminals that they defeated — and also found a statue-like, practically comatose young woman:

Zatanna’s adventures in finding her father had only just begun. The four covers below include the retconned story mentioned above, Detective Comics #336 (Feb. 1965).

Detective Comics #336 (Feb. 1965, Carmine Infantino pencils, Joe Giella, inks); The Atom #19 (June-July 1965, Gil Kane pencils, Anderson, inks); Green Lantern #42 (Jan. 1966, Kane pencils, Anderson, inks); Justice League of America #51 (Feb. 1967, Mike Sekowsky pencils, Giella, inks)

The lovely Zatanna continued her search in The Atom #19 (June-July 1965) when she asks Ray Palmer to help her get inside the sub-atomic world of her father’s book of magic, in which she believes he is trapped. She’s not wrong, as she and the Atom encounter there the Druid, an enemy of Zatara, who told them he stole her father’s powers and then cast him into a realm the elder magician never knew existed. They defeat the Druid but he is suddenly put in suspended animation before he can reveal where he sent Zatara.

The Maid of Magic and the Atom return to their own world, with Zatanna saying that maybe Green Lantern, the Flash, or the Justice League of America can help her. (Besides Fox writing the tales, the link to all these series was they were all edited by Julius Schwartz at the time. The Flash never got called upon to aid her.)

Exceptional splash page from The Atom #19 (June-July 1965). Kane pencils, Sid Greene inks.

Fox, Kane, and Sid Greene were reteamed in Green Lantern #42 (Jan. 1966) and it featured some of Kane’s best work in the series as GL and Zatanna faced the Warlock, a magical enemy of her dad in another dimension, the one Zatara had been sent to by the Druid. However, all the Warlock can tell her is that Zatara stole his crystal ball and disappeared to an unknown destination.

Green Lantern #42 (Jan. 1966). Pencils by Kane and inks by Greene.

Detective Comics #355 (Sept. 1966) had Zatanna showing up in the backup feature of the issue, a tale with the Elongated Man. This really felt like it was no more than just a filler, with Ralph Dibny seeing two crooks that robbed a jewelry store flying against their will to Zatanna, who wants a magical item they stole at another time.

Detective Comics #355 (Sept. 1966). Art by Carmine Infantino.

Finally, in Justice League of America #51 (Feb. 1967), Gardner Fox wrapped it all up. In the empty JLA HQ, Hawkman, Atom, Green Lantern, Batman, and the Elongated Man suddenly appear together, brought there by Zatanna in order to thank them. She told them that recently she had been in battle with an evil spirit and she conjured up magical versions of the heroes to help defeat it. In the process she found her father.

It is here that Detective Comics #336 gets explained when Batman tells her he doesn’t remember ever helping her. She explains she had been manipulated by the villainous Outsider and was in the guise of a witch. The reason for the rewriting of that story was Batman was the star of the Justice League of America comic book series at this point — the Adam West Batman TV series was a hit — and he had to be featured. Gardner Fox looked back and found the witch story he wrote.

Detective Comics #336. Sheldon Moldoff pencils, Giella inks.

Justice League of America #51 (Feb. 1967). Pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Greene.

Justice League of America #51

The JLA issue wraps up with Zatanna and Zatara hugging and planning to take time off together.

Zatara, who was one of DC’s earliest characters (debuting in none other than 1938’s Action Comics #1), still pops up from time to time. But Zatanna went on to become one of DC’s most beloved heroes.

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MORE

— HAWKMAN #4: ZATANNA’s First Appearance Slated for FACSIMILE EDITION. Click here.

— 13 PAGES AND PANELS: GRAY MORROW’s Brilliant ZATANNA. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. A sequel, about movie comics, is coming soon. Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.